Why I do not have new boats.

[DeepCMark58A]

Pontoon has been parked since the party weekend when the pontoon was driven the length of the lake with the anchor down, resistance was felt so full throttle with occasional "beeping" from the motor. During boat maintenance discovered an overfill of oil better known as gas in the oil.

 

[racerone]

New boats are meant to look good in the showroom.-----They and the motors are designed using computers.------There is no step in the computer program that says -----HALT-----lets see if this can be repaired 5 years after commissioning.----Some of the stuff I have seen / heard about is mind boggling.-----eg, about $2000 to repair " fly by wire " steering on a fairly new motor.----Used to be $40 for some new tiller cable.

 

[cyclops222]

Only rich people can afford to buy brand new ANYTHING.
Only the super rich can keep paying for service calls and parts

 

[matt167]

I was glancing at some end of summer sales from a nearby boat dealer. They had Scarabs that were like $23k from $50k and I was like wow that’s a good deal. I clicked on it and they are little 15’ Jet boats that fell out of style 20 years ago. I wouldn’t mind having one of those little jet boats to toy around with but not bad enough to spend $25k.. even when they pop up for like $2,500 for an older one I’m like meh.

My little StarCraft is the best of both worlds. It’s practically new, even if it was made in the mid 60s.

 

[airshot]

Yep....I have yet to see a new boat that can do more than my 1992...for the minimal savings in fuel....don't think I would live long enough to make up the difference.

 

[dubs283]

Pontoon has been parked since the party weekend when the pontoon was driven the length of the lake with the anchor down, resistance was felt so full throttle with occasional "beeping" from the motor. During boat maintenance discovered an overfill of oil better known as gas in the oil.

Perhaps I'm missing something here but I fail to see a correlation between boat/motor vintage and operator error

In regard to the "beeping" from the motor this is an indication of a fault and the audio warning system is allowing the operator to understand something is amiss. Seems to me the engine was merely indicating it has detected an anomaly and the communication was disregarded by the human element in the situation

It's quite possible newer vintage pontoons are designed to be operated at full throttle with the anchor deployed and I have yet to hear of the practice. I am extremely stupid at times and do exist mostly in flyover country, ymmv

 

[JimS123]

I'll take the other side of the argument. I ALWAYS buy new.

To me depreciation is non-existent. I keep my boats a long time and do meticulous maintenance. I rarely use a mechanic. Do 95% of the stuff myself.

Case in point...the last boat I sold was 35 years old and it sold the first day. The selling price was only about $5k less than what I paid brand new.

New comes with a warranty, and I KNOW everything is new. No matter how good a used boat is you really don't know the history.

Just my opinion.

 

[mattsteg]

I'll take the other side of the argument. I ALWAYS buy new.

To me depreciation is non-existent. I keep my boats a long time and do meticulous maintenance. I rarely use a mechanic. Do 95% of the stuff myself.

Case in point...the last boat I sold was 35 years old and it sold the first day. The selling price was only about $5k less than what I paid brand new.

New comes with a warranty, and I KNOW everything is new. No matter how good a used boat is you really don't know the history.

Just my opinion.

I'd rather not pay the 5-10x premium it'd take to get into a similar new boat, and save those 10s of thousands of dollars for other things, but that's just me.

 

[racerone]

You will not have any issues if you can afford new , and throw money at any problems that arrive.

 

[mattsteg]

You will not have any issues if you can afford new , and throw money at any problems that arrive.

Except time on the water waiting on warranty service or computer diagnostics you can't do yourself.

 

[cyclops222]

A boat CAN CAN be legally sold as NEW. Even if 5 years old. The number of years old is controlled by state and the manufacturer.

 

[airshot]

You will not have any issues if you can afford new , and throw money at any problems that arrive.

Unfortunately I know way to many people that have bought new and still had numerous issues. I can say that my many used purchases have had very few problems over the many years I have boated. No way could I justify the cost of a new outfit when compared to what I have saved buying used. I am sure others may have different results, but my current used boat cost me less than 5K but a new replacement boat would be well over 25K. Simple math for me, but others results may differ.

 

[tpenfield]

I buy used boats, because I don't have enough $$$ to buy new in the range of what I want. Additionally, buying used you get to see the boat's 'weaknesses' since someone has used it for a while. Plus, you are not bothered by the warranty stuff, which boat companies never seem to honor.

So, it is all right there to see the boat's strengths and weaknesses and knowing if you buy it, it is all yours.

 

[ScottinAZ]

New is no indicator of “problem free”…. At work our newest buses have the most issues. One is a wiring nightmare and has spent most of its time since delivery at the dealer getting manufacturing defects fixed. The second newest had the rear axle nearly fall out of it (someone absent on “torque wrench day”) and will likely be down for an extended time awaiting parts and who is gonna pony up for the repair…. Me, I’ll buy older stuff out of warranty, and since I wrench on it myself, I not only have some skin in the game to make it right, but if I do screw up (and I have/do) I know what was done, and can rectify the issue fairly quickly. It’s all about your accepted level of risk, and skill/knowledge to fix things as to how old you go….. both of mine qualify as “antiques” in motor vehicle circles, and both put a huge smile on my face at the lake when both they and I do our parts……

 

[mattsteg]

New is no indicator of “problem free”….

The bathtub curve never misses. New stuff is more likely to break than slightly older stuff that has had a time for the weak points to fail. Once those initial quality issues are worked out and the lemons filtered out...you get a long period of relative reliability. And finally stuff starts wearing out.

The middle and later parts of that curve can be more predictable than the later ones - i.e. new stuff can actually have more unpredictable failures that keep you off the water - of stuff you either can't or shouldn't resolve yourself.

 

[DeepCMark58A]

Perhaps I'm missing something here but I fail to see a correlation between boat/motor vintage and operator error

In regard to the "beeping" from the motor this is an indication of a fault and the audio warning system is allowing the operator to understand something is amiss. Seems to me the engine was merely indicating it has detected an anomaly and the communication was disregarded by the human element in the situation

It's quite possible newer vintage pontoons are designed to be operated at full throttle with the anchor deployed and I have yet to hear of the practice. I am extremely stupid at times and do exist mostly in flyover country, ymmv

Operator errors are more expensive on a newer boat.

 

[DeepCMark58A]

I am going to change the oil and disconnect the fuel line when the motor is not running, should get me thru the season. Running at 1/4 throttle tops.

 

[Grub54891]

Neighbors pontoon is giving beeps for three years, it's been at the dealer most of the time. First was water in fuel combined with a impeller that looked to be pumping fine, but wasn't pumping enough and going into limp mode or quitting altogether. Next is the beeping that the dealer can't even figure out. Year three and same issues. I'll take a old school carb motor any day of the week.

 

[garbageguy]

The bathtub curve never misses...

I like curves, and your description of a bathtub curve. After re-powering our boat for the Niagara River, Lake Erie, etc and enjoying what sounds like the middle part of that curve for about 10 years - it seems like we might be getting to a final part of such a curve (and focus on our other boats and stuff). I am trying to construct such a curve in my head, but am not there. Can you post that curve?

 

[legalfee]

I bought a 1995 Sylvan pontoon for 3K. Over the last 9 years I've put in new seats, helm, and vinyl floor. New bimini frame and top and repowered with a new Suzuki last year. So I have improved the boat over time without laying out a bunch of cash initially.